Manic Monday #4: Celebrate

Today's word is celebrate. Very appropriate for me at this time of the year. And what time of the year is it? Well down here in New Orleans its Mardi Gras time. It's a time that the entire city celebrates.
Mardi Gras is officially only one day. It's French for Fat Tuesday, which is the day before Ash Wednesday. But for the people of New Orleans Mardi Gras refers to the entire season, starting on the Twelfth Night and culminating on Fat Tuesday.
If you've never been to Mardi Gras it's hard to explain. I was talking to a friend from up North and he was saying that they had parades too. But Mardi Gras is not just a parade. The entire city shuts down for a big party.
Little plastic beads that cost only pennies become prized possessions to dive for and jump for and try to catch as many as possible and than some. People will walk around with enough beads around their neck that they can't bend over from the weight.
And contrary to what you've probably seen on tv Mardi Gras is family fun as well as more adult oriented also. It depends what part of the city you do your partying in for Mardi Gras. The westbank, Metairie, even parts of downtown are great for families. The truck parades rain beads down on all ages.
The French Quarter is where you want to party if you want to leave the kids at home. This is where you'll see the scenes you've seen in those Girls Gone Wild videos. This is where you'll hear the chant "Show Your ---!" to the girls that want beads.
The parades bring in famous celebraties to ride as their grand marshalls. This year Taylor Hicks rode for one.

Mardi Gras is a time to celebrate. Celebrate life and joy and just pure fun.



CELEBRATE


All the pictures from this post came from NOLA.com Check out their site for more Mardi Gras, including more pictures and videos.